Fundraising efforts continue for Grande Prairie’s new regional hospital, which is scheduled to open next year.

Keith Curtis, executive director of the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital Foundation (GPRHF), provided an update to the County of Grande Prairie council Monday afternoon. He shared their efforts to date, as well as the status of the hospital.

“Overall, we have a capital campaign of $20 million that we’re going through right now and we are almost half way,” Curtis said. “We have some strategic partners that have really come through and helped us out a lot, We have a lot of interest from the community when it comes to naming rights for some parts of the hospital and we bought a few pieces of equipment.”

The primary focus of the GPRHF is to enhance the quality of health care in the community by raising money for specialized needs of the new hospital. They fund unique equipment, major projects, patient care programs and education.

Their capital campaign is broken up into four components: key innovations at $9 million, key equipment for life legacy fund at $6 million, key to the art of healing at $3 million, and key to knowledge educational component at $2 million.

Currently, the GPRHF is focused on the educational component of their campaign. Curtis said they want to tie it into Alberta Health Service’s (AHS) Connect Care program that allows patients to see their medical history and needs. It can also help doctors as well.

“If you have a diabetes patient while they’re in the hospital, if they go through a new medication program or new nutritional program that has to happen, they can do it on that bedside system and then when you get home you will have access to the same thing that you were taught in the hospital.”

The hospital also purchased new equipment. It will be used at the QEII hospital before it is transferred to the regional hospital when it opens. New staff members will have to be trained on it, such as the two radiation vaults, while others will be brought in to run the hospital operations.

Grande Prairie will become the fifth city in the province to offer radiation therapy, joining Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge and Red Deer, according to an AHS news release.

“It is going to be a state of the art facility. It’s going to be impressive as you can see when you drive by it. It’s very imposing building. It’s very large and takes up a huge amount of space,” Curtis said.

Curtis took over the role as the GPRHF’s executive director in August 2017. The position was formerly held by Cindy Park.

“One of the things that’s been great is I took over a well-functioning organization. The past executive director really did a lot to make sure she’s maintained great support within the community,” Curtis said.

“We have a fantastic board that has done a great job of governance and keep the foundation on an even keel financially as well as building up a great amount of support within the community and carrying on a fine tradition making sure that the reputation of the foundation is sound and secure.”

Curtis said he’s been learning “some of the intricacies of the inner works of a non-profit organization and rebuilding some of our staff and workings.”

GPRHF does not receive money through fundraising programs. They predominately obtain funds from sponsors and donors who in turn host tournaments and activities in the community.

“It’s really all about our supporters and our donors and people within our community that help. We have large commitments from some of the car dealerships such as Sean Sargent and Revolution Auto Group that have a committed to a lot and helped us along the way,” Curtis said.